


odd one out

by perhapssoon



Series: trials of a bender [1]
Category: Splatoon
Genre: Gen, Not a ship, bender/avatar au, just an extended hc ngl, nonbenders pick up that prejudice tho its there on both sides, some great bonding time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2020-01-05 07:36:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18361529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perhapssoon/pseuds/perhapssoon
Summary: He's a nonbender in a world of benders. It gives him disadvantages most of the time but when it comes to bonding over the lack of bending abilities, he's got that down cold.





	odd one out

The whispers follow him everywhere he goes, sliding under cracks in the door, dripping lazily from the crowds at the Turf Wars, and he feels like he's stepping on glass every time he ventures outside to avoid crushing his reputation. It's not like he had a good one anyway to begin with.

_"There's Scuba. That nonbender on Aloha's team."_

_"Yeah, I'm surprised his team didn't kick him off yet."_

_"They lost that last match because of him, remember?"_

They all act like he couldn't hear him, but he could very much hear every single word that was passed behind his back, and he hated it. Being a nonbender on a popular turfing team was one thing. Being the  _only_  nonbender on his team was another. He supposes that both of those things combined, plus the prejudice that surrounded the whole bender vs nonbender issue, is what causes him to feel so pressured every time he enters the stage.

Each time he gets splatted, boos and jeers echo from the stands, noises that he struggles to block out when he respawns. They ask him why he got splatted, telling him that he shouldn't be on the field if he was going to bring his team down like this. Yet, when Aloha or Straw or Octoglasses get splatted, disappointed groans are the only thing there, along with shouts of encouragement to keep going.

He's gotten used to the glares received by passerby on the streets to the point where it's normalcy for at least one Inkling to throw something at him if he accidentally gets too close. For that reason, he's gotten extremely good at dodging stuff, and when Aloha asked him during training where he suddenly got increased agility, he only shrugged and said he was practicing a lot.

Aloha accepted that as an answer, though his eyes told Scuba that he knew the truth.

He took up chi-blocking, not because he wanted to, but because he felt like he  _had_  to. It was something to use as an advantage against bending teams, able to temporarily remove their bending, and he managed to utilize that along with his increased agility to target Inklings' weaknesses and take them out quickly. He gained some respite there because Inklings strayed away from talking trash to him directly, though the murmurs still wafted around behind his back.

It felt like there was a rift between him and his teammates; though they treated him like an equal, he was always just known as "the nonbender" to the public, the one who fit in but not quite, the one who was competent enough but not quite.

So it was a relief every time training or turfing ended and he was free to spend the day however he wanted.

Today is one of those days, thankfully, and even though he isn't wearing his signature snorkel mask, so many insults have been directed at him that if he received a coin for an insult, he'd have more than enough to buy out the entire stock of Ammo Knights.

While wandering through the empty tables near Crusty Sean's food truck, he sees a lone figure sitting in the very back and there's enough gravitational aura that he changes his direction to walk over to them. When he gets closer, the other Inkling looks up at the footsteps and he's met with a very tearful Sailor White.

"Oh, hey Scuba." She looks away again, obviously trying to hide the fact that she had been crying, furiously scrubbing at her eyes when he sits down across from her.

They weren't that good of friends, but the fact that both of them were nonbenders was what connected them in ways that Scuba couldn't really understand. They both have the same insults hurled at them, the same comments made in the shadows as they pass Inklings anywhere they go, the same unusually high standards set for them that both were too scared to do anything but meet them.

"People callin' you names?" White is younger than him by at least a year, but still hadn't taken up chi-blocking, for reasons he didn't know. Chi-blocking was the only way he could jump the bar of expectations by the public, and he held some sort of respect for the other Inkling for managing to hold her own despite lacking any special skill.

White shrugs, refusing to make eye contact. "Yeah, I guess." She laughs, her voice cracking halfway through, shaky and unstable. "Couple of benders couldn't take that I was smarter than them at planning a strategic attack for taking down teams from behind. I guess they didn't expect it to work so they asked me if I thought my brains were going to erase the fact I couldn't bend."

Scuba's hand involuntarily clenches into a fist, though he hides it under the table. "You want me to chi-block 'em? I'll do it for free."

She smiles through her tears, shaking her head so her tentacles sway from side to side, one of them briefly smacking against the arm rest of her chair. "It's fine, really. I just need to get thicker skin, y'know?"

Scuba shrugs and leans back in his seat. "They force us to leap up the bar of expectations, so it ain't that bad if you can't take those insults 'cause they probably won't be able to take it if the positions were reversed, you feel?"

"Yeah, I guess." White huffs, folding her arms on the table, and Scuba notices that she has her manual open, though she has no pencil with her. "I'm just tired of all of this. This kid went right up to me after our match yesterday and asked for an autograph, and I didn't believe that he was asking me." A bitter smile spreads across her face. "I was right. He walked right past me and went to Forge."

"Hey, it's not your fault," Scuba puts in. "Kids are influenced by all those haters out there. No one goes up to my face to ask that stuff, but there's all those rumors on the S4 replacing the nonbenders on their teams with benders."

She looks alarmed now, sitting up straight. "That's not true, is it?"

"Shouldn't be." Despite all the flaws in his team leader, Scuba trusts Aloha completely. His friend would never replace him, and he's sure that Army wouldn't replace White either, not when the entire orange team is practically inseparable on and off the field. "They need us too much to even think about it."

He exerts more confidence than he feels, more for White's sake than his own. He's considered being replaced, of course, but Aloha had told him once that he would never replace Scuba, even if nonbenders were banned from participating with benders, and even then, he would make the whole team resign. Scuba just hopes that Aloha wouldn't change his mind any time soon.

White still looks unconvinced. "Are you sure? All of my friends are the same as me; strategists, manual-users, and, well, they're all benders so that gives them an edge. If they find someone else who is good at battle plans, they could just boot me and--" Her voice is becoming higher and faster with each word, eyes glowing with panicked energy.

"Hey, hey, hey," Scuba leans forward again, trying to get White to make eye contact with him. "Army wouldn't do that, man. He may be shella emotional and really uptight, but he ain't disloyal to his teammates, alright? 'Loha always goes on about how he gave up being on the S4 team just to stay with you guys."

White releases a slow breath, visibly calming slightly. "I-- I guess you're right."

Scuba nods triumphantly. "And if I'm not right, I can always chi-block him for you."

She laughs, sounding more bright and happy than she did two seconds ago. "That would be helpful."

Scuba's phone buzzes then, a text from Aloha popping up on the screen. 

_You ready for some partying tonight?_

He allows a slight grin to spread across his face as he stands. "Well, I gotta bounce. Don't let people get to you. You're too good for that y'know."

She smiles at him, genuine appreciation shining in her eyes. "Yeah. See you around."

As he leaves the table, he can hear her words float across the Square.

_Thanks_.

**Author's Note:**

> ty to my friendo on discord for dealing w my rap and bouncing rambley ideas off each other fsdhjkf


End file.
